What does Ecclesia look like? (6 - Final)

ECCLESIA now

If you have followed me to this point, you may well be able to make my next point for me.  What does ecclesia look like?  Not Church!  As I have said elsewhere in this series, the only thing ‘church’ and ecclesia have in common is some of the people involved.

If what is contained in this series is what ecclesia looks like, there are some important questions to be asked and answered concerning this creature we call ‘church’ and the species that perpetuates it.

Let me be very clear here.  One of the fundamental differences between ‘church’ and ecclesia is that ecclesia is a creation of God and is not a physical, ‘seen’ thing separate from the people it is composed of; it is entirely organic.  ‘Church’, on the other hand, always has an existence that is physical and ‘seen’ either as an organisation, an institution, a building, etc.  All these physical things have some form of legal existence separate from the people it is composed of, usually made visible in a document often referred to as a Constitution.  As for the buildings, these are usually legally owned by an individual person or a group of people formally in some kind of legal structure, and recognised and registered with the government of the day.

D.L. Moody – a nineteenth century teacher and evangelist – is reputed to have viewed ‘the church’ as a ‘voluntary association of the saved’.  Could he have understood something that others of his day didn’t?  I’m not sure we can know precisely what was in his mind, but I have no trouble with that expression.  I think ‘the church’ is something that has an existence of its own, created, established and maintained by humans, that one can join and un-join at will.  That also infers that one can qualify or not qualify for membership in it based on the ethos and rules it operates under.  And that infers that other humans may determine who is in and who is out.

Ecclesia has none of these features.  It is the fellowship of the saints, not the voluntary association of the saved.  So many today struggle with the idea of being saints.  One of the main reasons for this is that the creature we call ‘the church’ has taken to itself the right to define what a saint is; and what it has chosen is very different from what the new testament teaches.  W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary notes: “In the plural, as used of believers, it designates all such and is not applied merely to persons of exceptional holiness or to those who, having died, were characterized by exceptional acts of saintliness.”  And as he rightly points out, in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 “the saints” are also described as “them that believed” – referring to “the whole number of the redeemed.”

In New Testament Greek, the word for saint has the same linguistic root as the word for sanctify and sanctification.  The root idea has two parts to its meaning: one is separation to God; the other is the work of the Spirit in the lives of those so separated as they are “transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).  God names and calls us to follow Him. In responding as the first disciples did, we too are separated to God and, through what Apostle Paul calls ‘the obedience of faith’ (Romans 1:5), the Spirit begins His sanctifying work; and we are assured that “He who began [that] good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

“To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae” (Colossians 1:2) combines the twin concepts well and is Paul’s description of the ecclesia in Colossae.  Those who turn from trusting in themselves, other people or organisations for their right standing before God and place their trust in Jesus alone are called ‘brothers of faith’ (‘faithful brethren’); they are also called saints; they are the ecclesia.  By this process, each one is organically joined to Jesus Christ and to one another.  One biblical analogy is the human body: all the parts are organically joined to make up the functioning whole; another analogy is that of a building – each one is a living stone being built and knit together by the Spirit to form a “spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5) and a “dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

When all of this – and so much more – is plainly evident in scripture, why do we pretend that ecclesia is anything different?  And why do we pretend that ‘church’ and ecclesia are the same thing?  I suggest one reason is that we really cannot bring ourselves to believe the “glorious liberty of the children of God” of Romans 8:21.  And why might that be? Well Paul did say that “the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4).

The god of this world has tricked many into assuming that “seeing is believing”; whereas the reality of eternity, of God, of spiritual life, is the opposite – believing is seeing.  You want to see something and understand it?  First believe it; suspend your unbelief for a moment and allow the light of God to inform your spirit and you will see as God sees.  You want to see and understand ecclesia?  First believe that it is as Jesus and Paul and others clearly indicate in the scriptures; that it is as a continuous line of prophets and teachers have been saying from then til now; that it is NOT what you see when you look at the creature that goes by the title ‘church’.  Do that, and the light of God will teach your spirit to see according to the Holy Spirit and you will ‘discern the body of Christ correctly’.

‘Church’ is not ecclesia now sick; and ecclesia is not ‘church’ made well.  As I have said elsewhere, they are as different as a fish and a dog; as separate as wheat and tares.

On the way through this series, we have glimpsed many examples of ecclesia, from the ‘two or three’ that Floyd McClung teaches about (based as it is on the teaching of Jesus) to the thousands of Acts 2.  But I want here to make one final distinction.  The Greek word ekkalo chosen to describe new covenant believers (saints) is a composite word that means ‘called-out’.  The saints are the ‘called-out’ ones.  If we take the picture demonstrated in Matthew 10 and Acts 1 and 2, the nature of this ‘calling’ was to Jesus.  The old testament announces this prophetically when it says, “unto Him shall the gathering of the people be”.

But if you examine every case of this calling – whether as recorded in scripture or in the lives of the people in our present generation I have referenced – it is not only a calling unto Christ, it is also a calling unto the mission and the mystery of God “on earth as it is in heaven”, which is the ecclesia.

It is not a calling to collect people, to count them and to tell the world ‘Look at me; I am a success because I have collected 3,000 people and they all love me and listen to me and want me to be their shepherd.’  The pattern of ecclesia is that they are called, they gather, they are dispersed, over and over again.

‘Church’ is about ‘collecting’ in order to demonstrate ‘success’, and so others can succeed when they follow what the first has done – which is, effectively, a gathering unto the person or the organisation or the vision, or the program, or the ministry.

In ‘church’, the people belong to us – our church, our people, our vision, our ministry.  In ecclesia, the people belong to Jesus – His called-out company, His family, His vision, His ministry, and, most importantly, His Headship.

So what!?  That is the question many want answered.

I want to finish this series with a short ‘so what’ and, at the same time, use it as an introduction to a new series that delves into ‘so what’ in more detail.
 

So what?  Well here’s what!

• We believe ecclesia is ‘by the Spirit’, not ‘by the book’;
• ‘The book’ is part of the revelation of the Spirit to ecclesia, not the sum of it;
• We are of the view that Christianity is not a ‘religion of the book’;
• For us, Christianity is “until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19);
• We place no special importance on owning or using buildings;
• We don’t condone or encourage the use of an ‘order of worship’;
• For us, it is ‘first apostles, second prophets, third teachers';
• That is followed by an application of the 5 ministries of Ephesians 4;
• Local congregations are not led by ‘Pastors’ or ‘Reverends’ or ‘Priests’
• All true believers are saints and priests unto God;
• Every such person has gifts, calling and ministry for the body;
• Every such person is exhorted to serve in their gifts, ministry and calling;
• The functioning body is a testament to God where it is located;
• We don’t practice or encourage the use of homiletic preaching in meetings;
• We don’t practice denominational ordination;
• We don’t conduct denominational birth, marriage and death ceremonies;
• We don’t condone or support the idea of special or sacred clothing;
• We believe gatherings/meetings are for participation not passive observation;
• We don’t elevate one gift or talent over another but encourage participation by all;
• We don’t practice or endorse ‘the tithe’ but rather generosity;
• We encourage giving systematically, individually, privately and proportionately;
• We practice ‘the Lord’s Supper’ as participation in Christ (1 Corinthians. 10);
• We practice baptism as participation in Christ (Romans 6; Colossians 2);
• We practice marriage as a lifetime spiritual union;
• We practice wedding as a familial and social celebratory event;
• We devalue the world’s idea of ‘educated’ in favour of God’s idea of ‘taught’;
• The new testament is not a ‘how-to’ manual but a ‘how-we-did-it’ guide;
• As man is the head of church, Jesus is the Head of Ecclesia;
• Ecclesia is of eternal immortal (not of temporal mortal) substance;
• Ecclesia is a worldwide band of brothers and a clan of equal heir-ship (Matt. 23:8);
• Any person anywhere can have God without religion or ‘church’ or priest;
• We have one Father, one High Priest, one Leader, one Spirit;
• We are the fiancée of the King of kings and Lord of lords;
• Our dream, our passion and our vision is that the world see Jesus alive here;
• We encourage people to stand firm in liberty and reject guilt and bondage (Gal. 5:1);
• We have no interest in erecting an organisation or a building;
• We reject the business model/template in favour of that of an unbroken blood kinship;
• God’s eternal purpose is our mandate and mission;
• All leadership flows from Father Son and Spirit and is visible as serving;
• God’s oversight is administered via His under-shepherds (Ezekiel 34/Ephesians 4);
• Decision-making is by living according to the Spirit and the gift of discernment;
• Authority belongs to Jesus and is delegated via submission to the will of the Father;
• ‘Covering’ is achieved by abiding in Christ and loving one another;
• There is only one ‘denomination’ (the people of God) and God is their covering;
• The normative beliefs and practices of ecclesia is the ‘apostolic tradition’ of the N.T.

Blessings,
Kevin.